Because of his remarkable intelligence, his extended life span, his capacity for highly organized group relationships, and his extraordinary psychobiology in general, the elephant is an animal of great interest to the zoologist and the comparative psychologist. It has only been in recent years that the physiology of the elephant has received the attention of scientists (1). There is now a growing interest in this animal on the part of psychiatrists (2).

One of the strangest things about elephants is the phenomenon of going "on musth." This syndrome, a form of madness which occurs almost exclusively in males, begins with early adulthood (when the elephant is between 12 and 20 years old) and continues to occur once or twice a year until after the involutional period (around age 45 to 50)...